With advances in technology, mobile devices are playing a key role in our day to day life. The affordability of mobile devices in conjunction with the advances in technology has enabled most people to own a smart phone. Moreover, the introduction of user friendly operating systems into the consumer handset market enables most people to use a smart phone more efficiently than ever before. As a result, such devices have been used all over the world.
Although smart phones now have many applications in various fields such as multimedia, entertainment, gaming and so on. The main use of these devices is still to achieve communication, either using voice or data. In today's world, most smart phone users possess an email account, and would want to access these services on their handheld devices.
Today, there is work ongoing to provide different types of public warning systems. For example, support for an ETWS, enabling transmission of warning notifications about coming earthquakes and/or tsunamis to a UE through the network is ongoing. The ETWS warning notifications may be divided into a primary notification and a secondary notification. The primary notification is sent in order to notify users about the most urgent event in seconds rather than minutes, such as imminent occurrence of an earthquake and the like. There are requirements to reach the users with an ETWS primary notification message within 4 seconds. In order to avoid fake messages, inclusion of authentication or security check information is also provided in the primary notification. The secondary notification is sent to give users supplementary information that is of lesser urgency, such as instructions on what to do, where to get help, a map to refuge facilities, a time table of food distribution, and the like.
ETWS primary notification information can be delivered to the UE in all its states through messages defined in UMTS, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and Long Term Evolution (LTE). However, when the UE is in connected mode (either Dedicated CHannel (i.e., DCH) or Forward Access CHannel (i.e., FACH) states) because of either Circuit Switching (CS) or Packet Switching (PS), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications in UMTS do not explain how to receive the secondary notification through Cell Broadcasting Service (CBS) messages in these states. CBS messages (secondary notification messages) are received only in idle mode or cell Paging CHannel (CELL_PCH) or Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) Registration Area Paging CHannel (URA_PCH) states of a UE. In an existing system, it is left to the implementation of the UE on how to go to idle mode or CELL_PCH or URA_PCH states to receive the secondary notification when the UE receives the ETWS Message in either DCH or FACH states. Further, it is also left to the network implementation whether to release all the calls of the UEs, if they are connected and move them to idle mode/CELL_PCH/URA_PCH states or not.
Due to above mentioned reasons, it is evident that the existing system lacks a method that is used by the UE to go to idle mode or CELL_PCH or URA_PCH state to receive secondary notification CBS messages when ETWS messages are received either in DCH or in FACH states of the UE.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.